podcast:
The word podcasting is a contraction of iPod, Apple's
portable MP3 player and broadcasting. Podcasting
is a system in which podcasters offer audio files on the
Internet. Podcasting is called Almost Live Radio. In
America a number of preachers have started with their own radio
programmes on the net: Godcasting.
streaming:
With live streaming you listen to a broadcast in real
time, as on the radio. You cannot download, save nor edit any of these files
just
like that. You need to record them first.
USB(flash) drive:
external medium that can be plugged into one of your USB access gates and
acts like a small internal drive.
Teachers find it difficult to select good sound files on the level that they
need. And yet, there are lots of excellent materials on the Internet. How can you find, record, play and edit these files
and save them on a CD or on a USB drive, ready for class use?
1First check which players you have on your PC. Windows Media Player,
Macromedia Flash, Real Player, Winamp and
Quicktime may be
needed in order to listen to downloaded sound files. With the player Winamp you can burn your
downloaded files on a CD.
If
your default (standard) audio player does not
allow you to open a sound file, download the file and put it on
your hard disk.Open another player and try listening to your file.
2
Sound files are often in MP3, WMA or WAV formats. Wikipedia saves its
sound files in yet another format: Ogg Vorbis. These
files can be opened by means of Real Player. When you have opened a sound file, you can record it while
listening. This can be done by means of a recorder like Audacity
or Polderbits. These tools enable you to record all the sounds that
are produced on your
PC, irrespective of their source. A recorder enables you to
record (live) streams and save them so that you can play them later.
Example recorder
Polderbits
3Once your sound file has been recorded you can use an editor in
order to select sound extracts, fade in/out, and save your extracts on a USB
drive or on a CD. When saving you can decide on the quality of your extract. If
you choose a low quality, you will need less memory but the sounds may be
distorted, which you hear in the s-sounds. If you select a better quality, your
file will take more space on your drive. WAV files are of a high quality
and take more space than MP3 or Ogg
Vorbis files. For sound files with spoken texts you will need to select a
minimal MP3 speed of 12,000 Hz (Herz), 32 kbs (kilobytes per second).
Example recorder and
editor Audacity
4You
can download your players by clicking on on these URLs. They are free.
5How do you find sound files? Have a look at the selection below. You can
also look up sound files on the MP3/Audio search option of Altavista. Check the
websites of papers, magazines, radio and TV broadcasting companies.
Take
standard legal conditions on copyright into account, even with streaming
or podcasting.
BBC Learn
English is a high quality site with sound files and movies on films, media,
social issues and local attractions on various levels. It's a site with a host of
listening exercises on various aspects of British life. Select the Watch and
Listen option. You can download scripts and listening exercises. Real
Player.
British sound
files on London, on transport, cinema, shopping, work and eating out,
supplemented by exercises on skills and functions like asking tickets, booking,
checking in at the reception, talking about work conditions,… Intermediate
level. No registration is needed. Flash or Real Player.
Focussed
training on pronunciation and minimal pairs. Listen to the vowel chart, the use
of schwa, various tricky sounds and spelling with exercises at beginner’s and
intermediate level. No registration is needed. Flash 6 or MP3.
This site
gives access to current and former BBC programmes. There is a UK version and an
International one. Find information on the news, sports, weather, local
information, science, entertainment. Videonews is available. No registration is
needed. All levels. Real Player, streaming.
A very useful
site with exercises on pronunciation, songs, audio and video dictations, movie
trailers, telephone simulations, fairy tales,… in all kinds of Englishes. Flash.
Excellent
site on Nature, a science journal. The site holds a number of high-level
radio programmes on various science topics like chromosomes, hurricanes,
evolution, medical discoveries ... Easily accessible materials as no
registration is needed. Both British and American accents. And you find full
scripts along with your listening materials! MP3.
The New York
Times multimedia and photos page
contains news on current affairs, music, science, letters to the publisher,… No
registration is needed but you need to listen by means of iTunes with
most of the files.
Excellent
audio and video materials on historical events - the way the Americans see them-,
famous speeches, mysteries from history, etc. There’s a snag: the viewer needs
to watch a 30-second ad before viewing the movies. Movies have no scripts but
abstracts. Real Player.
650 extracts
in accents and regional dialects with glossaries and interview summaries. Free
and no registration needed. The level is probably too high for our pupils.
Windows Media Player, streaming.
With 3 ½
million recordings on oral history, literature, historical recordings. Finding
an extract is cumbersome and you need to pay for it. Some sound files are free
however.
Sound
Portraits
has long interviews with mainly African American and Hispanic young people. They
talk about US social issues and recent history, on executions, segregation,
ghettos, young criminals, religious apparitions, gay people, addicts,… Full
scripts are provided. Look under on-line. No registration needed. Streaming,
Real Player.
Educational
site on intermediate level with learning guide (incl. scripts) with each podcast.
The subjects are really practical: marriage, paying bills, flirting, answering
machine messages,.. American accents and American promotional style. Real
Player.
Very useful
library of short videos on health, fashion, design, cars, gadgets, electronic
devices, gardening and home, medication, design, how to-topics, film and music.
American accents. Macromedia Flash Player.
The
educational site About publishes directories with podcasts, cast by
various users. The podcasts need to be opened by means of iTunes and are listed
under headings like government, books, entertainment, sports, health, social
science, spirituality…
Short
conversations on surveys, job interviews, trips, pronunciation, sales,
reservations, time, numbers, minimal pairs, family, food, introducing yourself,
daily routines,… mostly at beginner’s level with matching listening exercises.
American English.
Real Player.
Useful site for developing reading skills. Go to the
Archives page, which offers stories from CNN and CB. Each story is supported
by audio and video materials, outlines, various vocabulary exercises,
comprehension and skills supplementary exercises.
Current events lesson plans on
two levels. Impressive.
VIDEO
There is an increasing amount of video
materials on the web. The One Computer Classroom (see IT) allows you to project
these movie clips in the classroom. The largest movie database is probably
Youtube. Here are some guidelines which teach you how insert a Youtube movie
into a Powerpoint and what types of movies can be found.
4. Click on
Download This Video (top right above the movie). The film will be downloaded
into your automatically generated file Real Player Downloads. Find this
subdirectory in your Windows Videos directory.
5. Open
WinFF.
6. Click on
Add (green plus) and select the downloaded film in your Real Player
Downloads directory.
7. Select
WMV in the Convert to …. window as in the example above.
8. Click on
Convert (blue arrow).
9. Wait a
minute until a black conversion window disappears from the screen.
10. Open Powerpoint.
11. Insert the
film in (Film uit bestand). Make sure you insert the clip from .WMV
extension from your Real Player Downloads.
12. When you
copy your Powerpoint presentation onto a USB stick or other medium, make sure
that the videoclip with .WMV-extension is copied as well and is put in
the same directory as your Powerpoint!
like that. You need to record them first. 
